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No. 29.]
"In the 15th year (of the reign) of king Rajakēsarivarman alias the emperor of the three worlds, the glorious Kulottunga-Chōladēva, on the day of Uttarashaḍha which corresponded to a Thursday, and to the first tithi (pratipada) of the first fortnight of the month of Makara in this year."
2
EIGHT CHOLA DATES.
The date corresponds to Thursday, the 25th December, A.D. 1147, on which day the first tithi of the first fortnight of the lunar month Pausha ended at 291 ghatikās after mean sunrise, while the nakshatra Uttarashaḍha ended at 20 ghatikas after mean sunrise on the same day. The same day was also the first of the solar month Makara.
251.-In the Kripapuriśvara temple at Tiruvennainallur.1
[P]u-mannu-padumam
śri-mey-kki[r]ttiy-uḍaiya Tribhu [va]nachchakkaravatti[ga]! Kulottunga-Solade varkku yandu [1]5 vadu Ishaba-nayarru-ppadinärän-diyediy=ana Nayarru-kkilamai-nāl.
291
"In the [1]5th year (of the reign) of the emperor of the three worlds, who had (this) panegyrical poem (in his honour), the glorious Kulottunga-Chōladēva,-on a Sunday which was the sixteenth solar day of the month of Rishabha."
(244) 2nd year: (245) 4th year: (246) 8th year: (247) 10th year: (248) 14th year: (249) 15th year: (250) 15th year: (251) 15th year:
The lunar tithi is not cited, but the week day affords a clue to the date. During the 15 years A.D. 1135 to A.D. 1149 there were only two years in which the 16th day of solar Vrishabha was a Sunday, and they were A.D. 1137 and A.D. 1148. We reject the former date, as it obviously was not the 15th year of our Chola king, and we conclude that the date of the inscription was Sunday, 9th May, A.D. 1148, which was the 16th day of Vrishabha.
Summary.
We can now arrange the eight dates discussed above in chronological order and endeavour to discover therefrom the commencement of the reign of Kulottunga-Chōla II.
Monday, 10th December, A.D. 1134. Monday, 17th August A.D. 1136. Friday, 7th February A.D. 1141. Monday, 30th November A.D. 1142. Thursday, 10th April A.D. 1147. Monday, 18th August A.D. 1147. Thursday, 25th December A.D. 1147. Sunday, 9th May A.D. 1148.
śrī
1 No. 315 of the same collection for 1902.
Dates disclosed by Inscriptions.
We see that the 15th year of the reign must have commenced between the 10th April, A.D. 1147, which fell in the 14th year and the 18th August A.D. 1147 which fell in the 15th year. At the same time the last inscription shows that the regnal year did not change till after 9th May. Therefore regnal years of Kulottunga-Chola II. must have regularly commenced between 9th May and 18th August, rather 9th May and 17th August, if we bear in mind the result of inscription 245; that is, the reign itself commenced between 9th May and 17th August A.D. 1133; the 2nd year of the reign in May, June or July, A.D. 1134, and so on with the 3rd and subsequent years.
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